Opera House

Fort Worth has a beautiful Opera House completed in 1998, and built with entirely with private funds; made possible by Nancy Lee and Perry Bass. Seating 2,056 people it is located downtown. We will be going for the first time...so I will get to take pictures on the inside. Maybe you have been to a performance here?

 

Forty Eight foot limestone angels seem to be welcoming you to the opera house.

This evening shot was taken, from an adjacent parking garage, by my sister Polly.

I am excited to photograph the interior.

Burgers

Every once in awhile ya just gotta have a burger. A hamburger that is..We have tried several since we moved to town, and I think we have found a winner. Gosh they are good!

 

Handy that it is very close to where we are building our new house

 

This mural was painted on the entire wall of one of the rooms.

Maybe to remind you that you are in the great state of TEXAS!

*My Tom also liked the name of the place :)

 

Maddy

My sister's granddaughter (my great niece) is a junior in college this year.....and she has just moved into her very first apartment (a sub-let). Maddy was challenged because the kitchen, was not only small, but had no storage space. She said she felt like a princess when several of her great aunts showed up (me included) to help remedy the situation.

We installed shelves for her plates, cup hooks for her coffee mugs and a tall shelving unit for a pantry. She was almost overwhelmed that food was also brought to stock the shelves. She had been over heard saying that she couldn't buy food until payday, because she needed to buy gasoline to get to her part time job. Can you tell that we all love Maddy?

Cute

It caught my eye going into an appliance store. Cute...but, maybe they were a lot of work? We have come a long way baby...or have we?

 

 Our washing machine quit working the week we moved out of our house. So, we need to replace it before we move into our new house (that is being built). We were looking at the fancy new front loaders, but have been getting some negative feedback. Seems you have to buy some special cleaning kit to run through it once a month, or they smell. Someone else complained that they didn't get her clothes clean, and she went back to a top loader....and believe it or not that was the lady selling appliances! So, we decided to stay with what we are use to ...the traditional top loader, which turned out to be a good idea since we were gifted a still working set from a nephew who recently married and wont be needing his.

The unusual

I showed you several of the art pieces in my previous blog, from the home that we leased recently in West Palm Beach, Florida. These are a few of the things that I thought most unusual.

Three small chunks of the Berlin Wall

A photo taken by the homeowner, that I recognized at first glance. Hint: he was the son of one of our most famous presidents.

I thought that this, hanging on the living room wall, was a central vacuum system. But, I was wrong.

Seems it is a work of art (or some sort of statement)

and last, but not least. Not really a work of art, but a letter to the homeowner signed the the late Kathryn Hepburn.
These are the last of  the photos of our holiday trip to the East Coast. We are back in Texas ,where we are busy with selections for our new place. Please come again....Janey

The Art

The home we leased (for one week) was a small one story ranch house in West Palm Beach, with a wonderful salt water heated pool in the beautifully landscaped backyard. The owner (who has just started leasing it) was for eighteen years the head fashion director of probably the worlds top fashion magazine. She had the walls of her colorful "Little Ranch", as she refers to it, covered with interesting art.

Yes, that is an interpretation of Henri Matisse's Icarus cutout guarding the pool.

Which was also magical by night.

What ranch is complete without it's own cow. A life sized print of Andy Warhol's Pink Cow greets you as you walk in the door.....sorry about my sloppy photography. There was obviously a large picture window too!

There wasn't a wall that wasn't sporting some interesting art object

 some quite colorful

and some not

But there was certainly something that appealed to everyone

Which was my favorite? Well, come again.(and I will show you) There were three things that would catch any one's eyes!

In Search of the Sun

Yes, we are headed deeper into the sunshine state (Florida) looking just for that.. THE SUN.and we found it in West Palm Beach

Where we golfed along the ocean (Tom and Chicago daughter #5)

 Enjoyed the beautiful beaches

 Toured the fabulous Flagler Museum

 But on top of the list, was enjoying granddaughter Hannah.... who absolutely loved the backyard pool at the house we leased!

Come back again and I will show you some of the unusual art in the home .....

On to Florida

Our Holiday trip included a lot of driving . After visiting daughter number four in beautiful Charlotte, NC. We celebrated Christmas with daughter number two in Atlanta, Ga. Instead of heading back to Texas we continued on over to the east coast, visiting Savannah, Ga. (previous post). and now we are in St. Augustine, Florida.
St. Augustine is the United States oldest city, founded by the Spanish in the year 1565. The weather didn't keep us from being tourists.

 

Castillo de San Marcos the Spanish fort that is now part of the National Park System

It is a fun place to explore...with costumed soldiers and exploding cannons!

 

The Historic area has some beautiful old restored houses. Love those porches!

There are numerous  sightseeing tours to choose from...some with clever modes of transportation..

 

Cute restaurants, coffee shops and places to shop.

We are headed further south. Deep into southern Florida! This truck loaded with fresh picked oranges reminding us where we are!

Savannah

Have you ever been to Savannah, Georgia? Well, my Tom hadn't either. So, since we were over on the East Coast during the holidays...we spent a day in Savannah. Savannah has a rich history, but to me the appeal is beautiful old mansions built around small squares. I think I counted over twenty of them.(squares)

Some of the homes date back to the eighteen century, and all have been restored

Several of the homes have wonderful summer porches, as there was no air conditioning back then.

I love the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees

There was even a wedding going on in Forsythe Park!

This square was in a very popular movie. Forest Gump was sitting on a bench in this very square, eating a box of chocolates and waiting on a bus.

I tried my best to re-create it with you know who (that's my Tom) Problem is, he ate the chocolates.

Be sure and come back and we'll head down the coast to St. Augustine. The oldest U. S. town.

Rolling on The River -Dice that is

Gambling here in the U.S., is still illegal, except for the state of Nevada (I feel sure you all know about Las Vegas), and oh yes, in Atlantic City in New Jersey. It's okay too, for the Indians to have Casinos on their reservations, and for the past few years the states of Louisiana and Mississippi can have Casinos with a strange rule .... that they can not be on land. That's right, they must be on the water. So, you will see barges in both states, and off shore, on the Gulf of Mexico with full fledged casinos on them. I think that is a rather strange rule.....and I don't quite understand it? Below, is such a Casino...floating... in Mississippi (at Vicksburg)  on the Mississippi River.

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago as we were headed to the East Coast for Christmas. I am not against gambling....I just don't understand why it is okay to do so while floating, and not on land. A loop hole maybe?

Happy New Year

Happy Happy New Year to all of my followers!

Have you made a resolution for the new year? I  use to put a lot of thought into doing this.....but now I realize that I always seem take myself... just as I am, into the new year . I probably am not going to lose a lot of weight (and look twenty again) eat right, or exercise as much as I should. What I would like to do is be more centered, practice acceptance... while trying to be the best wife, mother, relative, and friend I can be...and that includes being a friend to myself!

May the New Year be kind to you and yours.....and thank you for coming to visit my blog...you are appreciated.

We actually are on the beach in Florida and will be back in North Texas next week :)